Are All The Complaints in the Call Centers?

I read ALOT of complaints here from people working in the call centers....but what about the more behind-the-scenes positions? There are several openings in Marketing and I wonder about the work environment in that arena.

Can anyone speak to the customer service training and how the teams are set up? I've heard that the customer service teams are set up into groups of 8-12 people (much like in the military) and that the groups are made up of specialist - thus they can transfer customers to the right person that can answer questions with little customer interruption. Can anyone comment on these issues?

I worked for USAA in Norfolk for five years. It started out great but it changed so much I couldn't take it. At the end of 2006, the attrition rate was about 25%. A LOT of tenured people left the company between 2005-2006.

The teams are typicaly about 10 people. Your training will consist of online modules with instructurs to do some of the training.

Before getting out of traininhg you have to be "certified". THis means taking a certain number of calls, soliciting/transferring a certain number of products.

Well, before the training you will have a one week insurance licensing class. You have two times to pass, if you do not pass you cannot keep your job.

Te job is eight hours on the phone, the position is very micromanaged which means if you spend too much time off the phones , your manager will call or come by your desk.

You have to request time off about one year in advance and its based on seniority. So as a new employee you will not be able to have off anytime during holidays, usually by the time the bidding comes around mid-May to September are completely full. I am not exagerating.

You will start off 930-6 and can only change schedules as you tenure grows and new employees come behind you.

There is seldom anytime between calls.

You will be licensed in about 20 some odd states but will get calls from just about any state.

There are a lot of resources for help, though.

You will be REQUIRED to solicit other products and have a certain quota for obtaining permission to transfer. There are no paid incentives for doing so, its considered part of your job. You will be trained ot help open checking/savings account.

You start out doing auto insurance and within a year you start doing property like homeowners, renters, etc.

It's a lot of work, very micromanaged. I recmmd getting the experience and going elsewhere but you can easily get trapped by the money since the job market here is so bad.